rockridgecattle
Well-known member
Sometimes it's realy hard to know where to put a thread...hopefully here will do ok
So, this calving season has seen some good points and some not so good. I would like to write about some observations of a not so good outcome.
Once upon a time...
No really, the last couple of weeks have seen some navel ill cases. More than we would like. All this water everywhere has made a right mess of things...any how...
April 4th we had a healthy calf. It apeared to have had it's first suck, well on it's way to a life of happy calf bliss. 15 hours later, this calf was laying in a somewhat mucky area. Not bad but not great. Calf was lethargic and quite and sunken in the gut.
Of to the mat pen with the cow in tow to get the calf to suck. And he did good and proper. Since we have been having issues with navel ill, our vet advised a shot of LA200 to all newborns as a preventative. So this is what we did. I should say the vet has been advising us lot lately.
Now as a side note on colstrum, first suck within 2 hours second within 6-8 hours. If a calf sucks right off the bat, the gut starts to reduce the amount of PT of colostrum quicker than if the calf did not suck by 12 hours. So those first two feeedings are important to prevent FPT.
Back to the calf...we assume the first suck happened. The second for sure did not. Now this is what is going on...all because we dropped the ball and were busy with cows that we did not realize what had or had not happened
April 6 calf not well. After assisting on April 5 2x, the calf is just not getting it. Hard time getting up. Dopey, stupid. Needs assistance to suck. Can not find the teat itself and getting malnorished quickly. Front knee joints showing signs of swelling, navel not. Step up the treatments to include nuflor and flunazine. Over the next few days the calf becomes increasingly worse. Not wanting to suck much, not able to get the teat on his own, and chesty when sucking. Continue the flunazine and nuflor as perscribed. Calf poo hard and constipated. Drench with electrolytes and mineral oil and mineral oil ennema...yes i did that too
Fast forward to today..
Some signs of improvement. Little more life. Still swollen joints, still on nuflor, huchy, chesty when sucking....still needs help to latch on. Mother a pain in the butt, and without gates and pens would be a pain in my butt..so to speak.
Chatted with the vet today. His asssessment. Calf did not recieve enough colostrum if any. And if he got some, Falure of passive transfer occured. Not only that, but the septic nature of the infection (navel ill/joint ill), more than likely turned to blood poisoning and effected the brain. Infection or poisoning in the brain, menigistis like. This calf might see some improvement, but might not. The calf is not in pain so on the advice of the vet waiting until monday to see if the improvements continue. If not the vet recommends removing the fluid from the knees and a steroid injection at the site. He has seen some improvement with this procedure and assures me not costly...thankfully.
He also advises that if the calf has not started to latch on on his own, by then or shortly after the procedure, to remove the calf and bottle feed. And since the cow is now ill tempered, she gets a ride.
All because we dropped the ball on the colostrum intake. :bang:
Moral of the story, colostrum is so important. Yes, one can get away with the calf making it without it, but, more often than not, no colostrum or FPT can be more troulbe in the short and long term. It's just not worth it. So much can and will go wrong without it. Working with an ill tempered be nice and a sick calf takes alot of energy, which could be used elsewhere.
End of story...not a happy ending...yet
So, this calving season has seen some good points and some not so good. I would like to write about some observations of a not so good outcome.
Once upon a time...
No really, the last couple of weeks have seen some navel ill cases. More than we would like. All this water everywhere has made a right mess of things...any how...April 4th we had a healthy calf. It apeared to have had it's first suck, well on it's way to a life of happy calf bliss. 15 hours later, this calf was laying in a somewhat mucky area. Not bad but not great. Calf was lethargic and quite and sunken in the gut.
Of to the mat pen with the cow in tow to get the calf to suck. And he did good and proper. Since we have been having issues with navel ill, our vet advised a shot of LA200 to all newborns as a preventative. So this is what we did. I should say the vet has been advising us lot lately.
Now as a side note on colstrum, first suck within 2 hours second within 6-8 hours. If a calf sucks right off the bat, the gut starts to reduce the amount of PT of colostrum quicker than if the calf did not suck by 12 hours. So those first two feeedings are important to prevent FPT.
Back to the calf...we assume the first suck happened. The second for sure did not. Now this is what is going on...all because we dropped the ball and were busy with cows that we did not realize what had or had not happened
April 6 calf not well. After assisting on April 5 2x, the calf is just not getting it. Hard time getting up. Dopey, stupid. Needs assistance to suck. Can not find the teat itself and getting malnorished quickly. Front knee joints showing signs of swelling, navel not. Step up the treatments to include nuflor and flunazine. Over the next few days the calf becomes increasingly worse. Not wanting to suck much, not able to get the teat on his own, and chesty when sucking. Continue the flunazine and nuflor as perscribed. Calf poo hard and constipated. Drench with electrolytes and mineral oil and mineral oil ennema...yes i did that too
Fast forward to today..
Some signs of improvement. Little more life. Still swollen joints, still on nuflor, huchy, chesty when sucking....still needs help to latch on. Mother a pain in the butt, and without gates and pens would be a pain in my butt..so to speak.
Chatted with the vet today. His asssessment. Calf did not recieve enough colostrum if any. And if he got some, Falure of passive transfer occured. Not only that, but the septic nature of the infection (navel ill/joint ill), more than likely turned to blood poisoning and effected the brain. Infection or poisoning in the brain, menigistis like. This calf might see some improvement, but might not. The calf is not in pain so on the advice of the vet waiting until monday to see if the improvements continue. If not the vet recommends removing the fluid from the knees and a steroid injection at the site. He has seen some improvement with this procedure and assures me not costly...thankfully.
He also advises that if the calf has not started to latch on on his own, by then or shortly after the procedure, to remove the calf and bottle feed. And since the cow is now ill tempered, she gets a ride.
All because we dropped the ball on the colostrum intake. :bang:
Moral of the story, colostrum is so important. Yes, one can get away with the calf making it without it, but, more often than not, no colostrum or FPT can be more troulbe in the short and long term. It's just not worth it. So much can and will go wrong without it. Working with an ill tempered be nice and a sick calf takes alot of energy, which could be used elsewhere.
End of story...not a happy ending...yet
